Some 12,000 people convened last week in Tunisia for a United Nations conference on the Internet. Many delegates want an end to the U.S. Commerce Department's control over the assignment of web site addresses and e-mail accounts.

In the Soviet era, we all belonged to some kind of political or professional organization -- the Komsomol, the Communist Party, a trade union. During the perestroika years, we fought to institute the secret ballot in these organizations, so that important decisions could be made without outside pressure. And we were successful. The secret ballot became an integral part of our lives.

When a commander goes into battle, he needs to hold back a portion of his troops for deployment at a critical juncture. President Vladimir Putin's strategic reserve goes by the name of Sergei Ivanov. After the Kursk tragedy, when it became clear that the top brass were brazenly lying to their commander-in-chief and deliberately dragging their feet on military reform, Putin sent in Ivanov to sort things out.